Plantation Shutters

Plantation shutters are very popular down under at the moment, at least on the east coast of Australia.My wife and I recently renovated the bathroom, yes girls she did help with the wall cladding, plastering and tiling. We had a window that looked a bit out of place, a bit ordinary, and we say some plantation shutters in an apartment when we were on holidays in Queensland.You know what woodies are like, I can make them I said. Well that is what happened.After scouting around nobody seemed to know how to make them, especially the pivoting and the controlling mechanism. The rest was pretty straight forward except the shutters were a little tricky.I used google sketchup to design the project and that was very helpful.We had installed a new jarrah vanity so we wanted to match the plantation shutters to the vanity. Jarrah is a very hard but beautiful timber so I decided to use a softer material. My supplier Adrian at Trend timbers had some 6”X2” Australian cedar which was ideal for the job. Nice to cut and sand with a nice grain.I used beadlock loose tenons, two to each joint. They aligned very well and required minimal adjustment with the belt sander after glueup with tightbond III. I used tightbond III because the shutters will be exposed to moist air.I used double ended shelf supports for the shutter pivots. They have a spacer in the middle which is perfect for allowing side clearance. mind you I had a great deal of trouble finding someone who sold these little suckers which was hard to believe at the time.To adjust the tension on the mechanism to open and shut the louvers I just used a threaded screw in plug on the outside of the middle louvre. A screw simply pushes up against the pivot and makes the louvre harder or easier to turn. I used a second plug at the other end to prevent the louvre from being pushed against the side frame. boy that was long winded.The louvres are 90mmX18mm (3.5”X3/4”). They are tapered from the centre at 4 degrees down to 6mm (1/4”) at the end. I used the table saw to cut the angles with the blage set at 4 deg and used a long wedge (also cut on the TS as a support when cutting the other side of the louvre.I used a cedar rod for the controlling mechanism with screw in eyelets. i made a small jig on the bandsaw to drill a hole on the edge of the louvre in the same place on each louvre using a spacer.I made another small jig to centre the pivots in the louvres, you can imagine what would happen if the wher out of line.I had a little difficulty with staining the wood to get the jarrah colour. It was too dark originally, but after a wipe down with a terps dampened cloth the colour lightened up perfectly. lucky me.Anyway, here is the finished product.Thanks for looking

Nice project and excellent color match to the jarrah. I have often thought about using those double-ended supports as a box lid pivot, but never got around to it. This maybe a serendipitous re-acquaintance with that idea. Thanks for the post, Tony.

My wife and I looked at those style of louvers for the family room, but ruled them out due to cost. At the time I was wondering about building some but just couldn’t come up with a design I could live with…... You apparently did… Nice job, and a good blog, very informative.

Grumpy,, Great looking shutters, love the color you chose. Now that’s the way shutters should be hung, on the inside. I still can’t figure why people want shutters on the outside, simply decorative. Our bathroom window faces the backyard and about 80 ft away is the trees of our woods. Still can’t break the Misses on not having to shut the Curtains when she go’s the potty. Hopefully I’ll sell her on the Idea of some shutters..let ya know latter…..your brother in woodworking John

Whilst I was cleaning my guttersGrumpy built plantation shutters.He used some strange wood called jarrah.I used to date a lass named Farrah.Our love affair ended in calamity.‘cause I used plain old pine on her vanity.

Reply to Sir BobNow Sir Knight of the USWho I am sure God will blessThe shutters are cedar, made to look like jarrahI remember a girl named Farrah she was one of Charlie’s anglesIf she was the one I feel for you son of a gun.